I don't believe in paying for accounts, but some guys do.
I just don't feel like anyone can guarantee that the clients will at least stay on for a year. But good luck anyway, hope everything turns out alright .

I do only commercial accounts, and I know most of the people pretty well. When I get to the position of it being time to sell out, I will talk to all the property managers well before hand and let them know, that over the years I have been more than fair to them, many times doing little things for free or for food or whatnot, and now, to be fair to me, that they would hopefully agree to keep with whoever buys my company for a year, therefore increasing the value of my company.

I have 1 account that's $35,000 / year just for mowing, some that are $6-9,000 / year, most are $2-3000 / year so it would be in my best interest to get some money for the accounts.